Dear, Operation Shoebox New Jersey, I would like to start off this email with a hearty THANK YOU for all the support you have given me and our unit while deployed to Afghanistan while participating in Operation Enduring Freedom. I am sure you receive overwhelming support from business and individuals alike back home. But I am not so sure you get enough recognition or appreciation from those of us you take the time to care for. I have been spending the better part of nine years defending the country against those who wish to do our nation harm and every time I return I have a sensation of pride and relief. I am proud of my fellow Marines for the work they did—their devotion to duty and one another. I am also relieved to know that my family, and the sacrifices they have made with me being gone so often, can have me back for a little while. Their worry and grief ends with my return home. With this being said, we are now closing out our tour. Please do not continue to send any care packages to our address, as they will only be rerouted back to you. We ask that you continue your support to other units who are replacing us. So, with all the care and love sent from the other side of the globe, we who are returning triumphantly to all that we have gone without offer our thanks. Thanks for the time spent planning and boxing; organizing and shipping. Your efforts and toil have not gone unnoticed. We had our time made much more comfortable and tolerable through both the long and hot, or cold and wet days and nights of our tour. Respectfully, Robert Palechek First Sergeant, USMC